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UALR Board of Visitors Approves Strategic Plan for World-Class University for Region, State

Posted 4.20.2006

The full report can be found at www.ualr.edu/strategicplan.

Members of the UALR Board of Visitors voted unanimously to endorse Chancellor Joel E. Anderson’s ambitious strategic plan detailing a roadmap for building a world-class university for the region and the state.

The plan – UALR Fast Forward – provides an extensive statistical and factual insight of the University’s past, present, and possible future. It follows the release in September of the University’s master plan for the campus grounds and facilities. A third planning document is expected later this year addressing revitalization and new growth for the University District neighborhood surrounding the main campus.

The strategic plan makes a strong case that future prosperity of the central Arkansas region is inescapably tied to the strength of UALR. It challenges civic and business leaders to support the University, “not for the University’s sake, but for yours.”

“Today, universities are essential and powerful economic engines that pull and push regions, states, and nations forward,” Anderson told the Board of Visitors in presenting the plan. “This report reflects an intent to build a powerhouse university in Arkansas’ capital city as fast as possible – not for the sake of those who work at the University, but for the sake of the people the University seeks to serve.”

The plan includes seven broad pledges reflecting UALR’s commitments to find solutions to the strategic challenges of the state, the central Arkansas region, and the greater Little Rock and North Little Rock metropolitan communities.

“UALR is a public university dedicated to addressing public priorities,” Anderson said.

The pledges promise:

  • To provide programs of study to educate students to live, work, and lead in the complex, technological, and diverse world of the 21st Century.
  • To shape programs and align resources to address state-identified priorities.
  • To actively support regional and state strategies to speed economic development.
  • To work in partnership with governmental entities and community organizations and groups to solve community problems and to advance the community in other ways.
  • To be “the keeper of the flame” on the subject of race.
  • To be “the keeper of the flame” for the need for regional cooperation in central Arkansas.
  • To work as an active partner in revitalizing the University District.

To fulfill those promises to the public, the plan challenges the administration, faculty, and staff of UALR to meet eight goals, along with an extensive set of objectives and strategies to accomplish them.

 The goals include:

  • Providing programs of study that educate students to live, work and lead in a complex, technological, diverse world.
  • Provide a student-centered educational environment.
  • Expand graduate offerings to address regional and state needs.
  • Expand research capabilities to support UALR’s academic missions and strengthen regional and state economic development plans.
  • Provide exceptional public service through partnerships and outreach activities.
  • Support and strengthen its human resources.
  • Provide the institutional infrastructure necessary to achieve the University’s educational mission.
  • Develop a strategy to enhance resources to accomplish its mission.

“In responding to state priorities, UALR Fast Forward calls for the University produce more nurses, more K-through-12 teachers, more graduates in science, technology, engineering, and math – more graduates to meet our region’s needs and drive its economy for the next generation,” Anderson said.

The chancellor also issued a challenge to the public and other “external stakeholders.”

“There is no doubt that a fully developed, powerhouse university in the center of the state is needed immediately – indeed, was needed several decades ago,” he said. “Your challenge is to recognize a personal interest and vital interest, in fast-forwarding the development of UALR – not for the University’s sake, but for yours.”

The full report can be found at www.ualr.edu/strategicplan.